Machine for folding limp, flat articles



Dec. 25, 1951 s, MALQTT, JR 2,579,745

MACHINE FOR FOLDING LIMP, FLAT ARTICLES INVENTOR CLIFTON S. MALOTT JR.

ABY

ATTORNEYS Dec. 25, 1951 c. s. MALOTT, JR 2,579,746

MACHINE FOR FOLDING LIMP, FLAT ARTICLES Filed Nov. 25, 1946' :s sheets-sht 2 d. g d) 1 Ln I. Q Ll..

II),- co

FIG.- 3

FIG-4 INVENTOR CLIFTON S. MALOTT JR.

ATTORNEYS BMW Dec. 25, 1951 c. s. vMALor'r, JR

MACHINE FOR FOLDING LIMP, FLAT ARTICLES 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 25, 194e FIG-8 .lNvENToR @Ln-"TON s. MALo'rT 1R BY Patented Dec. 25, 1951 MACHINE FOR FOLDING LIMP, FLAT ARTICLES Clifton S. Malott, Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to The American Laundry Machinery Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a. corporation of Ohio Application November 23, 1946, serial No. 711,967

This invention relates to folding machines, such as are used in folding flat limp articles, e. g., towels, napkins, pillowcases or the like. The invention has more particular relation to that class of folding machines which utilizes motion of the article along a path for producing longitudinal folds therein.

One object of the present invention is to provide improved method and apparatus by means of which the side edge portions of the advancing article are folded down and under the central portion, instead of up and over it,.as heretofore, thereby taking advantage of gravity instead of attempting to overcome its bad effects, and securing more even and accurate folds by simpler and more eihcient mechanism.

Another object is to generally improve andsimplify the mechanism, including both the article moving devices and the guides which cause it to fold into the desired shape, as Well as the driving and operating parts.

Another object is to provide an improved folding machine which is dependable in operation, which not only produces the desired longitudinal folds but also-a cross fold or folds and which machine may be so timed and operated as to enable it to operate harmoniously or synchronously with a suitable stacking mechanism, as will later appear.

Further objects of the invention in part are obvious and in part will appear more in detail hereinafter.

In the drawings, which represent one suitable embodiment of the invention, chosen solely for purposes of illustration and not in any sense of limitation,

Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal sectional ele-` vation on the line I I, Fig. 3;

Fig. 2 is a plan view taken on the line 2 2, Fig. l, showing the folding plate assembly only; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the entire machine;

Fig. 4 is a detail cross section on the line 4 4, Fig. 2; i

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the lower, or lefthand, guide plate and turning plate in the zone indicated by the line 5 5, Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of the folding plate only, on the line 6 6, Fig. 4

Fig. 7 is a cross section on the line 1 1, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 8 is a cross section on the line 8 8, Fig. 1.

The folding vmachine shown includes a suitable frame, an article moving or conveying system, a set of plates and wings for supporting, guiding and turning the side portions of the moving artif- 4 Claims. (Cl. 27o- 66) cle, and cross folding devices, all associated in cooperative relation with each other and with a stacking machine shown more or less conventionally. These will be described in about the order named.

The frame This may be of any suitable form. It is shown as comprising a base I0, corner legs or ppsts II, longitudinal top angle members I2, central angles I3, body side plates I4, feed end side plates I5, all suitably joined and cross braced by various channels, tie rods, plates, roller shafts and other parts to which detailed reference here is unnecessary. Some of these parts will be referred to hereinafter. Housings IB enclose certain sprockets and bearings, and the frame, at the feed end, supports a shelf or rack II to hold a stack or pile of articles to be folded. At the delivery end is located the cooperating stacking machine, before referred to.

The conveyor system This includes feed rollers I9, 20, which are a little longer than the widest articles to be folded. Angle plate shields 2|,attached to side plates I5, cover the outer ends of the rollers and limit the width of the widest articles that may be fed to the machine. Over the rollers travel several short endless belts 22 (six being shown) and a long belt 23 which at its other end rides on a narrow roller 24 mounted on a bracket 25 (Fig.n 1) supported for vertical adjustment on the main frame (Fig. 8). 'An adjustable roller 26 is provided to take up the slack of all belts.

Beyond and above roller 24 is a roller 2'1 over which travel two parallel belts 28, spaced one on either side of the center line, riding at their other ends on roller 29. The upper stretch of these belts travels over a long roller 3i] and beneath two rollers 3I, the latter being mounted on pivoted arms 32 and yieldingly held down by torsion springs 33 for taking up belt slack. The lower stretch travels beneath a yielding hold down roller 34 backed by compression springs 35, the purpose of said roller being to apply pressure to the belts andto the moving article beneath them to insure article advance along the folding plate, as will appear later.

Beyond roller 29 is a roller 3B mounted in arms 31 held by adjustable tension springs 38 (Fig. 3) against roller 29, these two rollers 29, 36 constituting the folding rollers between which the longitudinally folded article is fed for producing a cross fold. The folding` blade for so feeding the `article is indicated at 39, being mounted upon Eampie pivoted arms 4d, for advancement by a cam 4I on shaft 42 and for retraction by spring 43.`

Each article fed through the cross folding rollers 29, 3E is led by curved guide 44 to belts 45 dated November 22, 1949, to which reference may be had for further information, if desirable or necessary. y

YThe several conveyors are driven as followsz Motor iii?, rotating counterclockwise in Fig. l,A

drives sheave 5l on roller 29 by belt 52. Roller 29 thus drives belts 23 Yand roller 21 on the shaft of which is a sprocket 53 connected by chain'54 to sprocket 55. travels over a sprocket 55 on the shaft of roller 2li which drives belts 22 and roller i9'.

At the delivery end ofthe machine, a sprocket 51 at one end of shaft of roller 29 drives a chain 58 connected to an adjustable sprocket k59, the lower stretch of the chain traveling over sprocket 6d on the vshaft ofroller '46. A sprocket 6l at the other end of roller 23 drives a chain 62 and sprocket t3, which operates a coaxial sprocket 64 connected by chain 651to a sprocket 66 in the4 stacking machine. Through one revolution clutch mechanism controlled by solenoid 61 sprocket 65 drives a sprocket 68 connected by chain 69 to a sprocket 10 on cam shaft 42.

Longitudinal folding devices reason for this'is 'that experience `showed that aV parallel sided plate'produced a folded article that tapered, with the vtrailing end wider than Vthe leading end. Tapering the plate toward the rear of the machine compensates for that tendency.' and produoes'a finished article folded to approXi-' mately the width of the plate and having parallel side edges.

Plate 1l is provided with three through openings,YV one, 14, through which roller 24 extends, and two others 15, 1E, into which extend the arms or fingers of electrical switches 11, 18, between belts 28, to insure operation of said switches by the moving article. plate may be provided with longitudinal grooves and ribs,v as indicated at 19, Fig. 6, to reduce friction ofthe moving workl upon the plate. 1l is firmly supported, by a frame bracket and an adjustable rod or rprop 8| (Fig. l). Its forward end is beveled'to a thin edge at 82.

The right and left turningor folding plates 12,

13 each consist of a-receiving and guiding portion' or member 83 and a turning member 84 joined together end to end by clips 85, all of the Lplate members being suitably supported on the frame,l

or'brackets carried thereby. Guide members 83 lie in generally vertical planes and converge in the direction of article movement. They are creased along longitudinal lines 86, with their lower portions 81 twisted and progressively de#v The upper'surface of the Plate parting inwardly from the vertical, so that they initiate and partially perform the operation of swinging inwardly and upwardly the side portions of the article which hang or are draped downwardly along each side edge of supporting plate 1|. The, turning o r folding members 84 are similarly creased and twisted or bent inwardly and upwardly, in continuation of the' guide members,

. beyond the joints with them, the lower portions being bent up and widened'until they form supporting plates below forming'plate 1l, in planes substantially parallel to it and to eachother.

. YThe vertical upper portions 88 of plates 12, 13,

The lower stretch of chain 54 above the crease, decrease in height until they reach thepoint indicated by the reference number 89, Fig. 2, where all three plates become parallel. VBeyondthis point the vertical part, to which Vreference number 89 is applied, is uniform in heightvand forms an upstanding side wall parallel to the side edge .of the forming plate 1|` and spaced from it to permit free passage of the material of the article. A similar upstanding side wall forms a part of plate 13 and continues toV its `far end. These two upstanding side walls restrict'or conne Ythe article closely to the correct width of fold, and with the two side wings supported in superposed relation upon vthe two plates 12, 13.

It should be understood that the two folding' plates 12, 13jhave their bends or creases so timed with relation Ytoeach other that the turning or folding operationen the two side wings of an article is successive, the right-hand sidebeing turned. in and folded up first, with the left wing coming in'beneath it, as indicated in Figs.' 1, 2 and 4.

As was previously mentioned, the lower porangletoward the cross folding rollers 29, 36. The

end of thejplate 1l is tapered 0E lat 82 and ter-Y minates a short distance beyondthe'rear end of plate 12, whilevplate 1,3 continues beyond both, to the gap through which the folding blade 39 works (Fig. .1). This arrangementreduces bulk and permits an article to 'be cross folded Lwith a minimum of sharp bending over plate edges. Beyond .the gap 9B is located an inclined pan or tablefilv upon which the leading .end of an Yarticle rides just-beforethe cross folding operation.

The plates-21 at the feed end of the machine have their horizontal portions lying just. above the upper surface of thefconveyor belts 22. Their purpose is to prevent the operator from feeding an article "of excessive width. With a folder, plate 1I vof givenwidth, these gauge plates2l are chosen of a sizeand areso adjusted vas to permit an article of maximum width tol be folded into three laps or layers of substantially equal width. Narrower articles, of course, are handled without .x difficulty, theltwoA sidelips or wings, of whatever trailing end-of an article sometimes whips up as it movesonto and with thepickup-conveyor, and rod 193 restrains whipping action and vcompels thearticle to ride in flat form upon the con-s The asvavic 1 Operation i i Towels orother aitioles f to be folded, piled upon shelf l1.4 are opened up and are fed one by one to conveyor belts 22, upon which they are spread out by the operator. Beyond the roller 20 the article begins to drape by gravity upon the forming plate 1| and long belt 23, its side wings dropping down around and hugging both side edges thereof. One half of the foldingmovement at each side edge is thus produced entirely by the gravity draping effect, quite independent of folding plates and without resort to any momentum effect due to speed of travel, such as when the side portions are folded upwardlyland inwardly, instead of downwardly and then upwardly and inwardly, Vas here. The discharge end of belt 23 ridesupon the short roller 24, which projects slightly above the `.upper surface of plate 1I through the opening 14 therein. The advancing article travels along the upper surface of plate 1I, said surface being grooved to provide easy slide, and as frictionally gripped and held down upon the plate by the under surface of belts 28, beneath which the article moves. Spring bias roller 34 presses the belts lightly but positively against the article and insures its longitudinal travel,` From the roller 34 the belts 28 (which normally are held in light contact with plate 1!) continue to advance the article by frictional contact tlrierewith. It should be` understood, in this connection, that in the drawings, the vertical spaces between the several plates 1|, 12, 13, as well as the thickness of the plates themselves, have all been exaggerated in Fig. 1 for clearness of illustration.

As the article advances it right-hand depending wing portion (viewing the machine from the feed end) contacts the right-hand guide plate 12 and is progressively folded inwardly and upwardly under plate 1l, in the manner described. Similarly, before the right-hand wing is quite fully folded, the left-hand draped wing has contacted the left-hand guide plate 13 and is progressively folded inwardly and upwardly under plate 12. In both cases the limp side wing of the fabric article is lifted positively and is drawn in around the edge of forming plate 1l in such manner as to there produce and hold a close, denite fold line, and without any possibility of forming or permitting the formation of slack and consequent wrinkles in the wing being folded. Each article is firmly supported throughout the entire area of both its center and side wing portions from the moment when it first engages forming plate 12 until it is engaged by both the cross folding blade 39.

As the article advances along plate 1| it successively trips switches 11, 18, which actuate or control an electronic timer of conventional time delay type (not shown) sensitive to the length of the actuating articles in relation to article movement. This timer ultimately produces actuation of the solenoid 61 controlling operation of both the stacking machine 49 and the cross folding blade 39, as will appear. The article continues to advance and, leaving lower turning plate 13, it crosses the gap 90 and slides onto pan 9|. When the longitudinally folded article has advanced such a distance that the mid point of its length is opposite the gap 98, the electronic timer, through a circuit not shown, energizes solenoid 61, producing one complete operation of the stacking machine, and one revolution of shaft 42 in the folding machine. The revolution of this shaft elevates arms 40 and advances theifoider bladeuss through the gap 9o, into the bite between the folding rollers 29, 36. As the article emerges from said rollers it is guided byplate 44 onto the top run of conveyor belts 45' which conveythe article to belt 48, with whichi it moves into stacking position. Any article thus delivered into the stacker, by its conveyor belt 48,A

isisubsequently-stacked at the same time a following article actuates the timer and thereby is cross folded, as before explained.

The folding apparatus described is of relative--V ly simple construction, operates satisfactorily, L and foldsa series of articles of generally similar Other advantages of the invention will be ap-V parent to those skilled in the art.

what I claim is: l. Folding apparatus of the character described for folding a limp, fiat article, compris-- ing an elongated thin flat supporting plate having opposite generally, parallel longitudinally extending side edges and upon the upper surface of which a portion of the limp flat article may be supported in horizontal position with two side wings'thereof each'depending from a longitudinal line of fold extending along one of said edges, means for advancing said article along said supporting plate, and two stationary folding members comprising a rst and a second folding plate each spaced from a respective side edge of the supporting plate, and each having a folding portion of twisted form which progressively changes from depending vertical disposition at its front article-receiving end to horizontal disposition at its rear end, the said rst folding plate near said rear end being spaced immediately below and parallel to the rear end portion of said supporting plate, and the said second folding plate near its rear end being spaced immediately below said first folding plate, and parallel both to the rear end portion of said first folding plate and the rear end portion of said supporting plate, the twisted portion of the first said folding plate beginning at a point in advance of that of the second said folding plate, whereby the depending side wings of an article advanced along said supporting plate are successively and progressively folded inwardly and upwardly along fold lines adjacent the said side edges of said supporting plate, and during the entire operation are rmly supported throughout their entire area.

2. Folding apparatus of the character deined in claim 1, and wherein the means for advancing said article along said supporting plate comprises an endless work-advancing belt located entirely above said supporting plate and having its lower stretch extending longitudinally along the upper surface of said supporting plate, and means for holding the belt yieldingly down upon the supporting plate, and thereby advancing along said supporting plate an article inserted between said belt and Vsaid supporting plate.

3. Folding apparatus of the character described for folding a limp, nat article, comprising an elongated thin flat supporting plate having opposite generally parallel longitudinally extending; sidev edges-:- and: npon tine; upped` surface;` ofi which al. central'. longitudinal, portion off thei downauporn the;y supporting7 platecomprising; a1. y-eldable-` cross;A roller. lying;A above saidf lower;` belt-f stretch: and arranged'to apply pressure,throrigh.` itiv to; an article travellingY alongsaid; supporting,

plate;,and thereby adaptedto advancesaidartif. cle alongfv said supportingA plate, and two sta,-Y tionaryffolding members comprising,a;..rst andA a. secondr folding plate each spacedroma respective side edgeof the supporting plate and. eaozzlrA havingr a`v folding portion f. of. tvvistedlform4 which progressivelyV changes from` depending. vertical position at its front article-receiv'ng endi-tohorzontal disposition at its rear. end;v the said`rst holding. plate near its said rear end` being spaced immediately, below. and` parallel' to the, rear por,- tion of saidf, supporting plate,`and"the. said' second.; folding plate near. itsfrear end being spaced? immediatelyv below said 'rstv folding` plate,A and 3g. 23214;;357 parallelbothto tlietrear endportion ofsaldrst" :foldingN plate and' tlie. rear. end'` portion' ofsai'df' supporting plate, thetwistedlportion of the first said folding plate beginning at a point.. in advanceof that, of tlie second said"folding?plate,n Wlfiereby the. dependingside* edges' of arr` article,A 1 advanced alongsaidsupporting plate' are succes;

sivel'yA and" progressively folded" inwardlysand l up:- wardly along; fold lines` adiacenti. the, said side edges of 'saidsupportinggplata andduring theV err-` tirev operation; are'rmly: supported throughout* tlieir entireyarea 4: Foldingapparatusfas' defined' inclaizn l; and

comprising;in"combination4 therewith,L cross fold"- ing; devices' located above andi beyond; the diei-'- cliargeend4V ofl said supporting;` plate; and: mov'- ablet means disposed belovrand BeyondJ said? dis;

charge end 1 and adaptedv to`I be' moved upwardly` for elevating* thee long tudinallxr` fnl'ded article and* delivering 'it to said"1 crossfolding devices;

CLIFTON Siv MALOTT; Jai

REFERENCES CITED The following references areof 1v1-mord'` in the.

le of*` this. patentzr.

UNITED f STATES PATENTS.-

rflunlnert Name DateA 5"99;6'1'5f Ledererv Feb; 22,11898' 125,305" Novi'ck :Aug: 2,- 1938-` 2;*1177262 Neckel Oct: 24; 1939L Johnson; Sept; 172 1940 2,232,126` Y Gabb'erti` Mayi; 1942I 

